Aspect

This paper discusses the findings from theoretical linguistics that can contribute positively to a focus on forms in the aspectual system of the Chinese language for L2 learners. The first section illustrates how aspect is expressed at the verbal, phrasal and sentence levels; it also presents Saillard’s (2018, 2019 and 2021) proposals on specific properties of aspect in Chinese which most need to be contrasted with the languages more familiar to the readers and underlying most discussions on aspect in the literature. These are, respectively, the issues related to lexical aspect and its link with situation and viewpoint aspect (contra Smith 1997), and that of aspectual coercion. The approach stemming from Smith’s universalist description of situation types will be critically compared with a description of verb classes valid only for the Chinese language (as in Teng 1975, Tai 1984, Lin 2004, 2008). The clear-cut distinction between viewpoint and situation aspect will be challenged through the demonstration that so-called viewpoint aspect markers in Chinese are in fact aspectual coercion operators with the potential to modify situation types even though they are syntactic elements. The second section presents the pedagogical implications, thus providing comprehensive explanations for behaviours that are otherwise perceived by learners as idiosyncratic. In parallel with examples of the more error-prone constructions, cross-linguistic references are also made, including rich-morphology languages such as French and Italian. The assumption is that the features of durativity and telicity – which underlie the division into states, activities, accomplishments and achievements – are naturally recognized by L2 learners, even at beginner level, and that learners’ sensitivity to lexical aspect can be enhanced through appropriate didactic intervention. The outline will focus on the main critical areas in the acquisition of the perfective marker, such as the alternation between the aspectual marker -le and the sentence-final particle le, as well as the patterns arising from the different durative and telic features of the predicate. Concerning the acquisition of imperfective markers, it will focus on futurate vs. progressive constructions, the stative vs. dynamic uses of posture verbs, and the incompleteness effect.